One of the earliest actions was the fund-raising campaign for enlargement of the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, National Elk Refuge. This campaign was led by the late L. H. Dunten, who served as president of the Indiana lzaak Walton League, and later of the national organization. Many hundreds of acres of grasslands were added to this refuge in the late 1920s, and an entry way to this day on the southeast end of the Refuge credits the contribution of the Izaak Walton League. Present day Indiana Waltonian leaders recall visiting with U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel at the refuge during the 1960s, and being asked as to the well-being of Mr. Dunten who still lived at that time. The Refuge was necessitated by the growth of the town of Jackson, which blocked the south end of Jackson Hole to the historic elk herd migrations to and from Yellowstone National Park country at the north end of the hole. Hay crops are harvested in the Jackson Hole grasslands, and fed to the thousands of elk who browse that area before once again migrating north to Yellowstone. They would otherwise have starved.

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